Donaire's trainer sees no need for Alex Ariza

ABS-CBN News

Respected boxing trainer Robert Garcia, who coaches Nonito Donaire, Marcos Maidana and Brandon Rios, said he broke ties with conditioning coach Alex Ariza because his fighters do not need him anyway.

Ariza, who became famous when he was the conditioning coach of Filipino champ Manny Pacquiao, worked briefly with Garcia's fighters, including Maidana and Rios. But it was revealed a few weeks ago that he will no longer be serving as a conditioning coach to Garcia's fighters.

"Alex Ariza is great at what he does. I still say he's the best at what he does," Garcia told Boxing Scene, emphasizing that he and Ariza remain friends. "He knows his stuff, he knows how to prepare the guys."

"We had great results, but it was just different things that my fighters decided. It wasn't really my decision. It was more my fighters," he added.

Garcia said his fighters decided to "do it old school" and noted that they had success in their gym even without Ariza.

"I became a world champion without a conditioning coach," he pointed out. "Fernando Vargas became a world champion without a conditioning coach."

The trainer even noted that one of his fighters, Rios, lost for the first time in his career to Mike Alvarado when Ariza came in to the camp.